Did You Ever Know?
by MorbidScribbles
Summary: Did you ever know that you're my hero? What friendship really was to Reno and Rude. RenoXRude, if you squint pretty hard.


**I was having a slightly sentimental day ^^.**

**Song (c) Sonata Arctica - Wind Beneath My Wings.**

**I heard it and the idea for this clicked into place all at once in my head.**

**Reno. **_**Click!**_

**Rude. **_**Click!**_

**Friendship. **_**Click!**_

**Looking back on everything. **_**Click!!**_

**Just HAD to write it.**

**Maybe a little OOC, sorry.**

**Slightly gory in one place!**

**Reviews make me so happy that I want to dance. Please and thankyou!**

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_It must have been cold there in my shadow_

Did you never get bored? Or even just a little bit mad that I was always the loud, energetic, attention-seeking one, while you were the silent one who didn't use words unless absolutely necessary, the one who spoke with actions instead?

_To never have sunlight on your face_

Did you really never get a tiny bit hurt that it was always me that got the credit when things went right -

_You were content to let me shine_

- when everyone would be praising me for another job well done? Why did you always just play up to what they thought? That clever Reno, more cunning and red-haired than the wiliest fox, quicker-moving and harder to catch than early-morning mist on the mountains, has saved the day again?

_You always walked a step behind._

I'd spring ahead, running around exuberantly, tirelessly, only stopping when I dropped. You would always be at my back - "got your back, partner." - usually picking up the things that I knocked over with my unceasing clumsiness, even picking **me** up when I fell down because of alcohol or lack of sleep.

_I was the one with all the glory_

You used to joke that people threw themselves at my feet and kissed the ground I walked on; I'd always just shrug you off. There was never a shortage of free drink from bartenders with quaking hands who'd glimpsed the gun strapped under my arm, that was true. Nor was there a shortage of women, desperate to peel away the stark white and blue of my uniform and play with me like a cat with a mouse. Glory, huh?

_While you were the one with all the strength_

Solid, rippling muscles have always strained against your bronzed skin, and I can't even begin to imagine you without them. You were always the one to lift me up with one hand and cram me into a conveniently-placed window to break into a building. **You** are the strongman in this partnership, you are the muscle power - both physical and mental.

_Only a face without a name_

I never actually remember hearing anyone call you by your name, other than me. It was always "man" or "Shades" - I guess from your reputation with your sunglasses, but still - you had a name. A name that sounded so delicious when it was crammed together with mine. Reno and Rude. Reno'n'Rude. RenoRude. RudeReno...

_I never once heard you complain._

You'd just nod, your face its normal black canvas. Never a smile, never a frown. You never showed that your job killed you inside and made you hate yourself, except for once. Once, after we'd finished erasing an entire family, I saw you stroke the tendrils of sweat-soaked hair back from the face of a girl who looked too much like someone we used to know, a single tear rolling down your cheek to sparkle in midair like a rare diamond before falling onto hers. A moment of utter purity, beauty, remorse, care, love, in a lifetime of utter ugliness.

_Did you ever know that you're my hero?_

Do you know how many times you've saved my life? It was always you who'd protect me, cover my back, and take care of me when I was injured - I remember that you once spent an evening picking shards of glass out of my lacerated shoulders, letting me squeeze your legs hard enough to leave bruises when it hurt too much. I'd be dead without you. Dead a thousand times over.

_And everything I would like to be?_

You were the model employee; always impeccably tidy and well-presented, efficient with a menacing aura. No one argued with you - no one dared. You never let your emotions show at work, not for one second, or let your attention slip. You were the perfect Turk! And the perfect friend. So kind, considerate, generous, even affectionate in your own way. Making sure I was safe and comfortable after a bad night out, tending to my injuries the way I tended to yours, even letting me into your bed and holding me tight in your arms after I'd wake up screaming at lucid nightmares. I wish I could be like you.

_I could fly higher than any eagle_

_If you are the wind beneath my wings._

I was always euphoric to be around you. You made me feel good about myself, even if we were just having a quiet drink after a long day. If I messed up, you didn't mind. When I needed someone to listen to my paranoid rantings or tearful, often drunken, confessions, you'd be there. You'd pick me up, used to joke that I'd go mad if you left - "don't ever leave me, yo! I'd end up in a straightjacket..." - and I think that's true. I would go crazy if you left. You're my best friend. Please don't ever leave me!

_It might have appeared to go unnoticed_

I guess I never said thankyou. I never said that most mornings I only got up to see your grumpy sleepy self glowering at your bowl of cereal as if it had cursed at you. It always made me laugh. But I think you always knew that that was why I stuck with you for so long, even though I'd been paired with dozens of people at work over the years, and none had ever lasted more than a week. We lasted longer than any of those. We've been a team for almost three years now, and it still seems to be going strong. Why else would I stick with you if you weren't the best person I'd ever met?

_But I've got it all here in my heart_

There is so much I want to say to you, need to say. But that's the thing with us, you already know what it is that I'm trying to say before I even open my mouth, like you can read my mind. (Maybe that's why you never show your eyes?)

_I want you to know I know the truth, yes I do_

_I would be nothing without you._


End file.
